Dear Students, Parents, Carers and Families

Welcome back!

It gives me great pleasure to welcome everyone back to the beginning of Term 2. I hope that everyone in our school community had a fantastic break, whether they spent it at home, on day trips, or traveling domestically or overseas like myself, as an opportunity to refuel and rejuvenate. I also hope families who celebrate Easter and Eid were able to enjoy time with family to mark this occasion.

I commend our students for their enthusiastic return to school and am confident that each one has come back ready for an invigorating term of academic and personal growth. We have an exciting term ahead of us and I look forward to sharing it with our community. Our whole school cross country event is happening next week on Wednesday and a Mother’s Day afternoon is planned for Friday, 10th May.

Term 2 Message

The Minister for Education and Deputy Premier, Ben Carroll has welcomed all students and families back for Term 2 and shared the following video message with families.

https://vimeo.com/933088690/2bf575e8ee

ANZAC Day

We had a special assembly on Wednesday in recognition of ANZAC Day, a time of reflection and remembrance. The spirit of ANZACs, with its qualities of courage, endurance, loyalty, mateship, and teamwork, continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity. It is important we encourage and emulate these qualities in our children as they are a part of our national story.

I feel very proud of our students who have who have honoured those who have served in wars and peace keeping operations by not only learning about the people who have helped keep us at peace but also through the beautiful wreaths and marvellous artwork they have created to show their respect. Singing the New Zealand national anthem hand in hand with our Australian one at our special ANZAC assembly was indeed a mesmerising experience and one that demonstrated respect on a whole new level. Well done Marambians! A huge thank you to Ms Walker, Ms Butler, Mrs Foley, Ms Banovic and Mr Tomazos for all their efforts leading up to ANZAC Day.

Kitchen Garden Program

It is with great delight that I announce that Mrs Foley will be running the Kitchen Garden program from next week. I know that it was a very well liked program in our community and I am very grateful that we have our Learning Specialist, Mrs Foley, agree to offer this wonderful experience to our students. We look forward to all the wonderful learning in this space.

Assemblies and Newsletters

Please see the schedule below for our assemblies and newsletters:

School Newsletter	Whole School Assembly
Friday, 26th April	Thursday, 2nd May
Friday, 10th May	Thursday, 16th May
Friday, 24th May	Thursday, 30th May
Friday, 7th June	Thursday, 13th June
Friday, 21st June	Thursday, 27th June

School Review - Parent Focus Group

As previously communicated, Maramba Primary School's review is happening this term. As part of the School Review process, we are organising a Parent Focus group who will be asked various questions by the School Review panel about our school’s strengths and areas for improvements. These groups are scheduled for 28th May 2024 from 9:00am to 9:45am. Some of the commonly asked questions and discussions at these sessions is around:

What does the school do well? What aspects could be improved?
To what extent does the school cater for the learning needs of all students?
What do your children enjoy in their learning?
How much agency do children have in their learning? Can they pursue their interests?
What would you tell a new parent considering enrolling their child?

We value parent input at Maramba Primary School and I am requesting interested parents to participate in this forum. If you are interested, can you please contact the school office on 03 9796 7150 or put your name and email address in this form:

https://forms.gle/Ef1tWLQ9iTZzvfQy7

I am looking at forming a group of 12-20 parents. Thank you.

Education Week Open Morning

An open morning has been planned for Wednesday, 15th May, as part of Education Week activities. This year the theme is Spotlight on STEM and all our students will celebrate and share how they bring science, technology, engineering, and maths to life in the classrooms. Parents and families are invited to visit the classrooms and participate in the fun and learning. Please see the flyer that is in this newsletter for details.

Enrolments

We have started accepting enrolments for 2025. Please ensure your enrolment form is completed if you have a child starting school in 2025 wishing to be a part of our amazing school community. If you know of any friends who are still to contact our school, please encourage them to do so asap as we will soon be confirming enrolments into Foundation 2025.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Kind regards,

Moniba Ehsan

Acting Principal

Birthdays

Happy Birthday to the Students and Staff who will celebrate their birthdays this, last week and over the holidays.